Audio Valve Amps? Good?Bad? Love Them?

I have used both the 75 watt and the 140 watt verisons of the amplifier. I find them to be adequate amplification devices that seem to be low maintenance. The unit do not require manula bias which some would prefer as they do not have to pull out meters and probes...etc. It has been a while so I (sorry) can't go into the depth of the osund too much, but I can say that I remember not being offended by the sound. Sorry that I can't offer you more than that.
Regards,
d911

The new models are self biasing.As stated above they are low maintenance and sound good.They do not stand out from the rest of the pack in this price range but certainly should be a consideration.

I'm one of the resident Audio Valve champions on Audiogon, so I figured I'd put in my 2 cents here. I have the 50 watt ppp45's, and I absolutely adore them. They are maintenance-free, look really cool, and they sound great. I can't comment on the model that you're looking at, but I can tell you about their lower-powered models. They are DEAD QUIET (you can put your ear right against the tweeter and hear nothing). They are extremely detailed (not the stereotype for a tube amp), and have a remarkably tight bass when connected to the right preamp. (I've tried several preamps and for my listening tastes I prefer mating them with solid state preamps.) They've never sounded strained -- and we're talking about only 50 watts here.

Now, the downside to Audio Valve products: They are made in Germany (that's good) but have a less-than-ideal US distributor (that's bad). They also suffer from name recognition problems. This will work to your advantage as a buyer, and to your disadvantage as a seller. There is also a very limited network of dealers in the USA.

By all means, I recommend auditioning them and you can see for yourself if they make you as happy as my pair makes me.

Michael